System and method for monitoring the location of individuals via the world wide web using a wireless communications network

ABSTRACT

A system is described for monitoring the geographical location of a subscriber&#39;s mobile cellular telephone, and for providing the location information to an authorized user through the world wide web. The geographical location of the subscriber&#39;s mobile cellular telephone is tracked using registration signals transmitted over the control channel by the cellular telephone. This information is supplied to a geographical location coordinator system, which determines the geographical coordinates for the cellular telephone. A database stores the geographical location information along with a subscriber&#39;s telephone number and account code. The database is updated to track the movement of the cellular telephone user across a geographical area.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/784,808, filed on Feb. 24, 2004 (now issued as U.S. Pat. No.7,283,827), and entitled “System and Method for Monitoring the Locationsof Individuals Via the World Wide Web Using a Wireless CommunicationsNetwork,” the aforementioned application being a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/604,754, filed on Jun. 28, 2000 (nowissued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,101), and entitled “System and Method forMonitoring the Location of Individuals Via the World Wide Web Using aWireless Communications Network.” The disclosure of each of theaforementioned applications is hereby incorporated herein, in theirentirety, by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to wireless communications systems, andmore particularly, to applications utilizing control signals emittedfrom wireless communications devices to monitor geographical locationand movement.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Tracking and monitoring devices for detecting an individual's locationand movement can be used in a variety of applications. Whether formonitoring the whereabouts of children as a safety check or for trackingthe productivity of employees in a business, such systems allow one toeasily and more effectively supervise others from a remote location.

Conventional child locator systems provide an example of a limited-rangemonitoring device that can be used for monitoring children within a fewhundred feet of a parent. A child wears a small, portable transmitterthat emits a low power RF signal detected by a receiver worn or carriedby the parent. Whenever the child strays too far from the parent, theparent's receiver no longer detects the signal and emits an alarm. Theparent can then warn the child to remain within a closer range and avoiddanger. The conventional child locator system can therefore be usefulfor detecting whether an individual who wears a monitoring devicetravels beyond a certain distance.

A common difficulty for parents of adolescent children is to supervisetheir children's activities while the children are farther away fromtheir parents. Although parents can contact their children by providingthem with mobile cellular telephones, a telephone call may create anembarrassing interruption (e.g., at the movies, at a party with friends,etc.). If the child's mobile telephone incorporates calleridentification features, the child may also be inclined not to answerthe parent's calls. Further, the parent may have little confidence thatthe child is being honest in describing his location and activities.Therefore, there is a need for a monitoring system that allows a parentto track a child's location within a wide geographical area from aremote location.

In addition to child monitoring, there are also many businessapplications for monitoring systems that can detect the locations ofemployees whose job requires travel away from the worksite. Many typesof businesses employ drivers who pick up or deliver goods or patrons.For these businesses, dispatchers rely upon their drivers to communicatetheir location and workload, usually through a CB-type radio or a mobilecellular telephone. The dispatcher must continually speak with thedrivers to learn each of their present locations in order to evaluatewhich driver is the most appropriate for an assignment. In supervisingthe drivers, the dispatcher is unable to detect whether drivers aretaking unauthorized breaks or detours, or are otherwise beingunproductive. For such businesses, there is a need for a monitoringsystem that allows a dispatcher to instantly detect the geographicallocations of the drivers within the geographical area.

Accordingly, there is a need for a monitoring system that can detect thegeographical location of one or more individuals and provide thisinformation to another at a remote location.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method and system for monitoringthe geographical location of a subscriber's mobile cellular telephone,and for providing the location information to an authorized user throughthe world wide web. The geographical location of the subscriber's mobilecellular telephone is tracked using registration signals transmittedover a control channel by the cellular telephone. This information issupplied to a geographical location coordinator system, which determinesthe geographical coordinates for the cellular telephone. A databasestores the geographical location information along with a subscriber'stelephone number and account code. The database is updated to track themovement of the cellular telephone user across a geographical area.

An authorized user accesses the geographical location information forone or more cellular telephones using mapping software on an Internetbrowser. The user provides one or more access codes for each cellulartelephone that the user desires to locate. Location information isprovided on a street map to show the present location of the requestedcellular telephones. In an alternative embodiment, the user interfaceadditionally provides information concerning the direction and speed ofmovement for the requested cellular telephones. Through the browsersoftware, the user is able to track a cellular telephone subscriber'slocation without placing a call or directly communicating with thesubscriber.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide asystem for monitoring the geographical location of individuals within ageographical region from a remote location. The monitoring systemincludes at least one wireless communications device having atransmitter for transmitting a signal comprising location information. Aplurality of receivers are located across a geographical region fordetecting location signals transmitted by wireless communicationsdevices. A wireless network communicates location information detectedby the receivers to a location processor. An Internet server provideslocation information from the location processor pertaining to at leastone wireless communications device to authorized users through theInternet.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a monitoring systemfor providing the geographical location of certain individuals within ageographical region to authorized users at a remote location. Aplurality of wireless communications devices transmit signals comprisinglocation information. Each wireless communications device is associatedwith an individual to be monitored. A plurality of receivers are locatedacross a geographical region for detecting location signals transmittedby the wireless communications devices. A wireless network communicateslocation information detected by the receivers to a location processor.A database stores location information and associates a user access codewith each wireless communications device. In operation, authorized usersreceive location information pertaining to each wireless communicationsdevice associated with respective user access codes.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a methodfor monitoring a geographical location of individuals within ageographical region from a remote location. The monitoring systemreceives control signals comprising location information from wirelesscommunication devices associated with individuals to be monitored, wherethe control signals are transmitted over a wireless network. The systemthen processes the control signals in a location processor to determinecoordinates representing locations of individuals to be monitored. Thelocations of individuals to be monitored are then provided to anInternet server. Authorized users are provided access to the Internetserver through a website.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the monitoring system according to thepreferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication device locatedbetween a series of cellular towers connected to a wireless networkaccording to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary geographical location database table of FIG. 1according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 a is a graphical user interface according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 b is a graphical user interface according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 c is a graphical user interface according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 d is a graphical user interface according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 a is a graphical user interface according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 b is a graphical user interface according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 c is a graphical user interface according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The architecture of the monitoring system of the present invention isdescribed with reference to the schematic diagram in FIG. 1. A pluralityof handheld devices, such as mobile cellular telephones 10 a, 10 b, 10c, and other wireless communications devices 10 d, 10 e, and 10 f are incommunication with a wireless communication link 12 in the wirelessnetwork 11. To track the location of the wireless devices 10, thewireless network includes a location processor 13, as will be furtherdescribed below. Subscriber database 14 maintains a list of all wirelessdevices 10 for which a user has subscribed to a geographical locationmonitoring service.

Geographical location information for the handheld devices to bemonitored is calculated in the location processor 13 and output togeographical locations database 15. As will be described in furtherdetail below, location database 15 at a minimum maintains thegeographical coordinates or a geographical description for each wirelessdevice to be monitored and an account number identifying the wirelessdevice. In alternative embodiments, the geographical location database15 may additionally store information such as the velocity of movementof the handheld wireless device and the direction of its movement.

The geographical location database is connected to http server 16 toprovide information to the Internet 17. The information provided in thegeographical location database 15 is combined with information providedby mapping software 18 a and information retrieval directories 18 b, andthe output is displayed on website 19 as a graphical interface. Website19 can be accessed by authorized users through various media, includinga personal computer 20 a, wireless handheld device 20 b, or aninteractive pager 20 c.

The geographical location for a wireless handheld device 10 may bedetermined according to a variety of methods. Each of these methodsutilize control signals that are emitted and received by the wirelessdevices. As shown in FIG. 2, mobile cellular telephone 10 a is locatednear cell towers 21, 22, and 23, and is closest to cell tower 21. Thecell towers may be spaced one to five miles from each other, dependingupon the amount of cellular use in a given area. In FIG. 2, each of thecell towers receives control signals from cellular telephone 10 a. Forcell tower 21, this information is sent to a mobile switching center(MSC) 25 through cell control 24. Cell tower 21 also broadcasts controlsignals sent from the MSC, which are then received by wireless devices.The control signals are used for registering that a wireless device isoperating within a cell, so that the wireless network can establish acommunications link between a cell tower and the device.

One method for determining the geographical location is to identify thecell tower that is physically within the closest proximity. Bydetermining which cell tower is closest to the mobile cellular telephoneand providing this information along with a mapped display on theInternet, an authorized user can find a cellular telephone user'slocation within a range of approximately 3 miles. This can be performedby forwarding “registration” information that is temporarily storedwithin an MSC to the geographical location database 15 in FIG. 1.Another technique for identifying the cell tower closest to the wirelessdevice is to use a “mobile maintenance command signal,” The mobilemaintenance command sends out a paging request signal to be received bymobile telephone 10 a. The mobile maintenance command is sent to allcell sites in the system, or can be sent to the last known cell sitebased on registration over the paging channel. The mobile is then paged(called) with a modified signal that tells the mobile to respond, butdoes not alert (ring). The mobile then responds back. Every cell nearbywill receive the mobile's signal. Based on RSSI (received signalstrength indication), the mobile is determined to be closest to aparticular site in the system.

The geographical location of a wireless device can be determined withgreater detail by using cell tower triangulation. In this method, thegeographical location system determines the location of a wirelessdevice by comparing the signal strength of the control signals emittedby a wireless device received at antennae at several neighboring celltowers. The signal strength is strongest at the nearest cell tower. Adiminished signal is received at other cell towers in the vicinity. Thedifferences in signal strength can be used to calculate the location ofthe wireless device, at least within 200 meters. Cell towertriangulation algorithms are presently being used and refined for E911emergency services.

Yet another method for accurately determining the geographical locationof a wireless device is to place location monitoring equipment withinthe wireless device itself. Some wireless devices currently incorporateGPS receiver chips to receive location information by satellite. Byconnecting the GPS receiver in a wireless device to the communicationequipment within a cellular telephone, the GPS geographical informationcan be forwarded to the wireless network for an access by an authorizeduser.

As part of determining the location information, the location processor13 must process the control signal information. The type and amount offormatting necessary depends upon both the method utilized fordetermining the geographical location of the wireless device and thetype of information to be supplied to the authorized user. As anexample, if the location is determined solely according to the identityof the closest cell tower, the network-based location system isforwarded a code identifying a cell tower. The code is then translatedthrough a look-up table into an address, which may include informationsuch as a street name, street intersection, county, or township. If thelocation is determined by the triangulation method, the calculated datais converted into geocoded location coordinates that are compatible withstandard mapping software. If GPS information is communicated from thewireless device, the network-based location system merely decodes thecommunications signal and passes the information along to thegeographical location database.

FIG. 3 provides an exemplary table of information to be stored in thegraphical location database 15 of the present invention. Thegeographical location information provided in the table could be derivedaccording to either the triangulation or GPS methods described above.The table also receives input from mapping software 18 a and informationretrieval directories 18 b. The mapping software associates an addressfor any provided geocoded coordinates. The information retrievaldirectory provides names of public items of interest, such asrestaurants, markets, or schools that are located at any providedgeocoded coordinates. The fields in the exemplary table of informationincludes, for example, an authorized user access code, wireless devicenumber, cellular user name, geographical location address, geographicallocation name, reporting time, direction of travel, and speed of travel.A geographical locations database could also include fields to provideadditional features for an authorized user within the spirit of theinvention.

FIGS. 4 a-4 d illustrate exemplary graphical user interfaces for themonitoring system for use as an adolescent child monitor according tothe preferred embodiment. A user, in this case, a parent of adolescentchildren, can access the graphical user interface using a desktop orlaptop-type computer system having an Internet connection to the worldwide web, using Internet browser software. As provided in FIG. 4 a, uponconnecting to the Internet and entering the appropriate URL to accessthe monitoring website, the user enters an access code. The user maythen be presented with a list of names of persons who the user isauthorized to monitor. In this example, the user is authorized tomonitor mobile telephones carried by the user's children. The listprovided to the user indicates whether the wireless communication devicefor each of the individuals is on or off. From this list, the userselects which of the individuals to monitor. A parent in this exampleselects to monitor each of the parent's four adolescent children.

FIG. 4 b provides an exemplary graphical user interface of the outputfor the monitoring system for monitoring the four adolescent childrenselected from FIG. 4 a. As can be seen, the screen display provides amap of Anytown, U.S.A. The map is scaled such that each of the fourindividuals to be monitored appear on the same map. In this map, as canbe seen, Deborah is located on P Street, Marcie is located on HowardStreet, Brian is located on Philadelphia Avenue, and Adam is located onQ Street. The map also indicates that Brian is in transit.

By scrolling a cursor to the “3” indicator and depressing the “select”key, the user commands the monitoring system to re-scale the map tofocus upon “Brian.” As FIG. 4 c provides a view of the re-scaled map toprovide more information about “Brian.” As can be seen, the systemprovides the speed of movement of the wireless device carried by Brianand the direction of travel. Depending upon the amount of informationstored in the geographical location database 15, the system could alsoprovide a history of Brian's movement throughout the course of the day.

If the user instead selects the “4” indicator, a re-scaled map ispresented to focus upon “Adam,” as illustrated by FIG. 4 d. Again, thesystem now presents location information about the selected individualwith greater detail. In this case, the information retrieval directoryindicates that Adam's location on Q Street is “Billy's Bar.” The systemalso indicates that Adam has stayed at Billy's Bar for at least twohours, since noon. If the user finds this activity to be unacceptable,the user can then opt to call the individual.

FIGS. 5 a-5 c provide a second example of a graphical user interfaceaccording to the preferred embodiment. In this example, the user is adispatcher for a taxi cab service. By entering the code “1983” in thelogin screen of FIG. 5 a, the dispatcher is presented with a listindicating that he is authorized to monitor three individuals, “Brett,”“Aslan,” and “David.” By selecting to display the locations of all ofthe individuals, a map scaled to show all of the individuals at once isdisplayed, in FIG. 5 b. In this example, the dispatcher then selects tomonitor “David” by selecting “3.” As shown in FIG. 5 c, by utilizing themonitoring system of the present invention, the dispatcher learns that“David” is at “Sam's Bar” during work hours, and should be reprimanded.

The monitoring system of the present invention can be configured withadded features depending upon the specific application for which it willbe used. For example, for the taxicab service described with referenceto FIG. 5, it may be useful for the dispatcher to know whether monitoredindividuals are driving unoccupied cabs. This can be accomplished byutilizing a specially designed wireless communication device that has aninput connected to the taxi cab fare meter. In this manner, thedispatcher can choose only to search for available empty cabs to directthem to available fares.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention can be used to monitorindividuals who carry any of several different types of wirelesscommunications products. As one example, the monitoring system of thepresent invention can be used to monitor the location of an individualcarrying an interactive pager 10 e. Likewise, the system can also beused for monitoring the location of an individual who carries a personaldigital assistant that is configured for wireless communication on thewireless network. For the purposes of the invention, the interactivepager or personal digital assistant 10 f transmit control signals in thesame manner as cellular telephones, and can therefore be used asmonitoring equipment in the same manner.

Cellular telephones, interactive pagers, and personal digital assistantseach have a liquid crystal display (LCD) that can be used with themonitoring system of the present invention to notify the individual thatthey are being monitored. Many wireless communications devices include atext messaging feature to allow the users to receive e-mail messages orany other type of short text messages on the LCD display. As yet anotherfeature of the present invention, a user who accesses the monitoringsystem through a website on the Internet may wish to leave a textmessage for an individual who is being monitored. For example, a parentmay wish to leave a message for an adolescent son (e.g., we left the keyunder the doormat) instead of interrupting the son's activities with atelephone call. During the operation of the monitoring system, asillustrated in FIGS. 4-5, the graphical user interface can include afeature to leave a text message for a monitored individual. The enteredtext is then communicated from an http server, through the PSTN to thewireless network, and on through a control channel to the wirelessdevice at the location in which it is registered.

Using conventional telephones, personal digital assistants, andinteractive pagers, the monitoring system of the present invention isonly useful when the person to be monitored carries the wirelesscommunication device, keeps the battery in the unit charged, and turnson the device. If the device is not operational, it does not transmitcontrol signals and cannot be located. Because this can obviate theusefulness of the monitoring system, the wireless communication devicescan be modified such that the system is always transmitting andreceiving control signals. For example, FIG. 1 includes an automobile 10d as an example of a wireless communication device that communicates inthe wireless network. The automobile can be configured with a wirelesstransmitter/receiver that only transmits and receives control signalsalong the wireless network. This system can be directly connected to theelectrical system of the car to the automobile battery to remain inoperation. An automobile that is equipped with a limited-functionwireless transmitter/receiver can therefore always be monitored.

Similarly, wireless cellular telephones, personal digital assistants,and interactive pagers can also be modified to continually transmitcontrol signals. At the present time, mobile cellular telephones aretypically equipped with batteries capable of operating in “standby” modefor several days, but have a “talk time” of only a few hours. Thesewireless devices can be easily modified to always run in standby, sothat they can be monitored at all times. Therefore, even when thewireless device operator turns off the wireless device, the devicecontinues to transmit low power control signals for monitoring. Whilethis feature is useful for monitoring other individuals, it is alsouseful for tracking devices such as misplaced cellular telephones,pagers, and personal digital assistants.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the output for the monitoring system of thepresent invention can be configured to output monitoring information forwireless communications devices such as cellular telephones, personaldigital assistants, and interactive pagers. Using mapping softwareconfigured for use with a smaller LCD display in a cellular telephone ora personal digital assistant, the monitoring system can provide the sameinformation to a user as with a personal computer. Alternatively, themonitoring system can also provide the output in a text format or in anaudio format. Accordingly, a user can utilize the monitoring system tomonitor the locations of others while also being in transit.

The monitoring system of the present invention includes a geographicallocations database and a network-based location system that continuallycalculates and stores location information for each subscriber'swireless device. However, instead of continually and automaticallyupdating and storing location information, the information can becalculated only in response to a specific user request on the monitoringsystem. When an authorized user enters the appropriate access code inthe monitoring system's website, the wireless network will then locatethe appropriate wireless devices, using one of the several techniquesdescribed above. By this method, the number of geographical locationcalculations that are necessary is minimized, which consequently reducesthe costs of operation. It may be unnecessary to continually calculate ageographical location of an individual's cellular telephone throughtriangulation if there is no one who is monitoring that individual.

The foregoing disclosure of embodiments of the present invention hasbeen presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formsdisclosed. Many variations and modifications of the embodimentsdescribed herein will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art inlight of the above disclosure. The scope of the invention is to bedefined only by the claims appended hereto, and by their equivalents.

1. A system for monitoring a location of a wireless communication devicewithin a geographical region from a remote location, comprising: aninput for receiving control signals detected from the wirelesscommunication device by a plurality of receivers located across thegeographical region, wherein the control signals are continuouslytransmitted from the wireless communication device even when thewireless communication device is turned off; an output for providinglocation information corresponding to the wireless communication devicedetermined according to the received control signals detected by theplurality of receivers to only authorized users through the Internet viaan Internet server, wherein the location information is provided on anInternet website accessible by an authorized user on a personalcomputer, the location information corresponding to the wirelesscommunication device is output to the Internet server via a geographiclocation database that maintains location information for a plurality ofwireless communication devices sorted by authorized user access code,and location information for a plurality of wireless communicationdevices associated with the same access code is accessible by theauthorized user.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the locationinformation corresponding to the wireless communication device isprovided to a mapping graphical user interface accessible via theauthorized user.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the locationinformation corresponding to the wireless communication device isprovided as a text message accessible to the authorized user on aninteractive pager.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the locationinformation corresponding to the wireless communication device isprovided to the authorized user as an audio signal.
 5. The system ofclaim 1, wherein location information for a plurality of wirelesscommunication devices is simultaneously accessible by the authorizeduser.
 6. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a processor fordetermining the location information corresponding to the wirelesscommunication device according to the received control signals detectedfrom the wireless communication device by the plurality of receivers. 7.A method for monitoring a location of a wireless communication devicewithin a geographical region from a remote location, comprising:receiving control signals detected from the wireless communicationdevice by a plurality of receivers across the geographical region,wherein the control signals are continuously transmitted from thewireless communication device even when the wireless communicationdevice is turned off; and providing location information correspondingto the wireless communication device determined according to thereceived control signals detected by the plurality of receivers to onlyauthorized users via an Internet server, wherein the locationinformation is provided on an Internet website accessible by anauthorized user on a personal computer, the location informationcorresponding to the wireless communication device is output to theInternet server via a geographic location database that maintainslocation information for a plurality of wireless communication devicessorted by authorized user access code, and location information for aplurality of wireless communication devices associated with the sameaccess code is accessible by the authorized user.
 8. The method of claim7, wherein the location information corresponding to the wirelesscommunication device is provided to a mapping graphical user interfaceaccessible via the authorized user.
 9. The method of claim 7, whereinthe location information corresponding to the wireless communicationdevice is provided as a text message accessible to the authorized useron an interactive pager.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the locationinformation corresponding to the wireless communication device isprovided to the authorized user as an audio signal.
 11. The method ofclaim 7, wherein location information for a plurality of wirelesscommunication devices is simultaneously accessible by the authorizeduser.
 12. A system for monitoring locations of a plurality of wirelesscommunication devices within a geographical region from a remotelocation, comprising: an input for receiving control signals detectedfrom the wireless communication devices by a plurality of receiversacross the geographical region, wherein the control signals arecontinuously transmitted from the wireless communication devices evenwhen the wireless communication devices are turned off; and an outputfor providing location information corresponding to each of the wirelesscommunication devices determined according to the received controlsignals detected by the plurality of receivers to only authorized usersvia an Internet server, wherein the location information correspondingto the wireless communication devices is provided on an Internet websiteaccessible by an authorized user via a personal computer, the locationinformation corresponding to the wireless communication devices isoutput to the Internet server via a geographic location database thatmaintains location information for the plurality of wirelesscommunication devices sorted by authorized user access code, andlocation information for a plurality of wireless communication devicesassociated with the same access code is accessible by the authorizeduser.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the location informationcorresponding to the wireless communication device is provided to amapping graphical user interface accessible via an authorized user. 14.The system of claim 12, wherein the location information correspondingto each of the wireless communication devices is provided as a textmessage accessible to an authorized user on an interactive pager. 15.The system of claim 12, wherein the location information correspondingto the wireless communication device is provided to an authorized useras an audio signal.
 16. The system of claim 12, wherein the locationinformation for each of the plurality of wireless communication devicesis simultaneously accessible by an authorized user.
 17. The system ofclaim 12, further comprising a processor for determining the locationinformation corresponding to each of the wireless communication devicesaccording to the received control signals detected by the plurality ofreceivers.